Case Number 16009: Small Claims Court

The Restless Conscience

Every purchase you make through these Amazon links supports DVD Verdict's reviewing efforts. Thank you!

All Rise...

Judge Clark Douglas has a great deal of respect for those who chose to listen to their conscience in Nazi Germany.

The Charge

The story of men and women with the courage to uphold essential human
values.

The Case

What a devastating documentary this is. Director Hava Kohav Beller spent
roughly nine years gathering footage, doing interviews, and piecing together
facts in order to make The Restless Conscience, which was finally
released in the spring of 1992. The end result of Beller's work is a very
important documentary that weaves together many stories to create a single,
overwhelming, emotionally draining tapestry. The documentary tells the story of
the numerous attempts to assassinate Adolf Hitler and overthrow the German
government between 1933 and 1945. Of course, all of these attempts failed. Why
wasn't someone able to find success? Why were so many attempts thwarted? What
mistakes were made that prevented the assassination of one of the world's most
evil and dangerous men?

Beller does not put much attention on the plots and strategies taking place
in other countries, but focuses almost exclusively on the plans of citizens,
soldiers, and others within Germany itself. Beller managed to secure interviews
with seemingly everyone of note who was still alive during the time she was
preparing her documentary. If the person (or one of the persons) involved in a
particular assassination attempt was no longer living (in many cases, because
they had been executed by the German government), she interviews a spouse, a
best friend, or someone else with intimate knowledge of the person being
discussed. This adds a deeply personal feeling to the documentary that it
benefits from immensely. Most documentaries of this sort tend to rely rather
heavily on historians and noted writers, but this one gives a voice exclusively
to those who were actually there.

Their stories all begin in a similar manner. Doubts about the direction of
Germany build slowly but surely, and at some point, a decision must be made. No
one interviewed here knew from the very beginning that Hitler was evil and that
Germany would become an evil nation. Some of them had disliked Hitler from the
beginning, but even these would never have thought of betraying their own
government early on. For some, the decision to act came suddenly and without
warning. For instance, we hear the gut-wrenching first-hand account of a German
officer who did a sharp about-face when he finally figured out exactly what was
going on in German concentration camps. "It's a moment in which the bottom
of everything falls out," he says bitterly. On the other hand, some were
slowly but surely traveling to an inevitable destination. German minister and
theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer despised Hitler from the outset, and eventually
determined that he could not feel close to Christ if he refused to take action
against the murderous dictator.

Beller collected a great deal of footage for his documentary, but she uses
it very sparingly. The doc primarily relies on the words of his interview
subjects, all of whom are compelling enough to serve as the subjects of
feature-length documentaries by themselves. When Beller does actually show us
footage from the era, it has a tremendous impact, just because she does not give
us enough of it to become numb to it. After sitting and listening to these
people for an extended period of time, the once-familiar sight of Hitler
traveling through adoring and fearful crowds suddenly seems fresh and chilling.
The strongest moments in the documentary are those in which Beller offers
portions of the Nazi show trials. These are intense scenes, in which various
members of the resistance are subjected to the cruel jeering of a
foaming-at-the-mouth prosecutor.

The documentary is deceptively simple in its construction: the interviews,
the footage, and occasional narration from John Dildine. Such effective
simplicity is a purely creative decision, the logical end result of years of
hard work and research. There is never a moment in the documentary that feels
dull, redundant, or unnecessary. Every clip, every story, every image…they
are all completely necessary. Beller carefully builds several story strands at
once, allowing the viewer to temporarily find encouragement in the increasing
success and idealism during the planning stages. When they all come toppling
down like a row of dramatic dominoes, the viewer is left remarkably deflated and
defeated. The documentary would be unbearable were it not for the knowledge of
Hitler's ultimate demise.

The transfer here is not particularly impressive, though I don't suppose it
needs to be. The interview segments are off in pretty much every way, with
flecks, scratches, plentiful grain and odd-looking flesh tones. Of course the
stock footage looks rugged most of the time. Even so, the poor video quality
does not significantly damage the dramatic effectiveness of the documentary. The
audio is acceptable, though it suffers from a good deal of hiss throughout. The
extras on the disc are text-only: an interview with the director, a brief piece
about the film, some comments from students, and some highlighted snippets from
assorted newspaper reviews.